Check strap for looms



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CHECK STRAP FOR 'LOOKS Filed Nov. 20. 1948 May 3o, 195o Miu??? PatentedMay 30, 1950 CHECK STRAP FOR LOOMS Ingram Dickinson, Atlanta, Ga.,assigner to Southern Belting Company, Atlanta, Ga., a corporation ofGeorgia Application November 20, 1948, Serial No. 61,174

1 claim. l

This invention comprises a new and improved check or lug strap for loomsof the type having a reciprocating shuttle operated by a swinging pickerstick. The invention is also applicable to lug straps employed forimpelling the picker stick of such a loom.

Check straps are required to serve the double purpose of checking theforward movement of the picker stick when the latter is impellng theshuttle across the loom and the rearward movement of the stick followingthe impact of the shuttle on its return movement to the stick.

The problem of designing a check strap in the form of a flexible loopwithin which the picker stick swings is one which has engaged theingenuity of textile engineers for many years. If the contact surfacesat the ends of the strap are not evenly engaged by the contact faces ofthe picker stick swinging within the loop, one edge or the other of thestrap is stretched and the bers broken so that the life of the strap isrelatively short. When the bers are broken at one edge of the strap, thepoint of contact with the picker stick moves progressively down the faceof the strap and the breaking process continues. Many attempts have beenmade to remedy this condition, as by cutting the straps with an initialcurvature, but such expedients have increased the cost of the straps andmade them more difficult properly to install and service.

By the present invention I provide a check strap of novel constructionwhich is free of the objections noted and which, beside supplying acontact face extending across the full width of the strap, substantiallyreinforces it at both ends and so insures satisfactory operation for along period of service.

The strap of my invention may be conveniently manufactured of anysatisfactory material such as leather, fabric, or reinforced plasticcompound. and may be of single or multiple ply construction. It ischaracterized by a strap of uniform crosssection closed at its ends inany desired manner and forming a flexible loop having equal length atboth edges, combined with an insert or plug attached to the strap withinits opposite ends in such a manner as to reinforce the strap, and beingso shaped as to provide an inclined contact surface for engagement by apicker stick swinging within the loop of the strap. The insert or plugmay be made of the same or different material from the body of the strapand is itself of novel and characteristic shape. It has U-shapedexterior surface conforming to the inner end surface of the strap andbeing cemented or otherwise attached thereto and to the adjacent sidewalls of the strap. It has a frusta-conical inner surface defining acontinuous feather at one margin of the strap, and at the other acrescent-shaped edge which is disposed flush with the edge of the strapand which is of substantial thickness in its center portion and taperssymmetrically in both sides. It will be apparent that the strap itselfmay be prepared from stock of uniform thickness and then subsequentlyclosed to form a symmetrical loop which may be then reinforced and giventhe desired divergent contact faces by merely cementing the inserts orplugs in place.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood andappreciated from the following description of a preferred embodimentthereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in theaccompanying drawings, in which.:

Fig. 1 is a view of the improved strap in .side elevation, partly insection, together with adjacent portions of a loom,

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a view in perspective of one of the inserts or plugs.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the body of the check strap III is formedfrom a flat straight blank of suitable width and thickness. connected atits ends, for example. by a long beveled joint I I in one of its sidewalls. The joint may be formed by cementing together the beveledportions of the blank thus :forming a symmetrical elongated loop ofequal length at both edges. It will be understood thatY by employing ablank of this shape, the formation of the loop itself is reduced tosimplest terms and may be carried out rapidly and at minimum expense.

Inserts or plugs I2 are prepared independently from any tough resilientmaterial such as leather, fabric, or reinforced plastic compound and areof such shape and size as to nt accurately within opposite ends of thestrap. One of these is shown separately in Fig. 3, and it will beunderstood that a pair of right and left hand inserts is required foreach strap. Each plug or insert is generally U-shaped in its contour,having one feather edge I3 and one crescent-shaped edge Il which is ofsubstantial thickness at its center portion and tapers outwardly in bothdirections. Accordingly, the outer surface of the insert is cylindrical.in character whereas the inner surface is frustoconical andconsequently defines the two dissimilar edges of the insert. Theresulting solid is substantially defined by the surface describedalthough the side portions of the insert extend forits supportingfingers.

wardly to a substantially straight Vfeather edge of equal width with thestrap itself and are not -strictly included within the geometricaldescription of the insert. It will be noted that the side portions ofthe insert merge smoothly into the inner surface of the strap itself andso present no obstruction to the free movement of the picker stickwithin the loop. The fitted inserts are cemented in place at oppositeends of the loop and it will be seen that they supply a substantial reinforcement by reason of the added material supplied -to those portionsof the loop adjacent to the contact surfaces against which the pickerstick bears evenly and continuously over the full width of the strap.

The strap may be supported in any convenient manner in the loom. Whenused in high speed looms, where it has a particularly usefulapplication, it is supported by three sets of fingers by which it isengaged at each side midway between its ends. These are shown in Figs. 1and 2 where a carrying bar I5 is provided with a pair of downwardlyprojecting inside fingers I6' and a single intermediate outside fingerI1. The fingers are hooked at their lower ends to support the strap andare so disposed as to flex its sides between them. 'I'he strap is thussupported securely but permitted to partake of a slight longitudinalcushioning movement in'sliding with respect to In Fig. 1 the pickerstick is represented as swinging within the loop of the strap about anaxis which brings its opposite faces into parallelism with the innercontact faces of the inserts I2 as it encounters them at the end of itsstroke.

Having thus disclosed my invention and described in detail a preferredembodiment thereof, I claim as new and desire to secure by LettersPatent:

A check strap for looms comprising a closed loop of flexible materialhaving parallel side walls and upper and lower edges of substantiallyequal length, and right and left hand U-shaped -plugs cemented withinthe opposite curved ends of the loop and extending symmetrically towardeach other in opposite directions within the parallel side walls of theloop, each plug having a feathered upper edge and a lower edge ofsubstantial thickness, thus presenting inclined contact surfaces for'engagement by a picker stick swinging within the -loop and both sidesof the kplugs being tapered and merging smoothly into the parallel wallsof the loop and so presenting nto rliibstruction to the free movement ofthe picker s lc I INGRAM DICKINSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PA'I'EN'rs

